This year’s meeting was held in Strasbourg on 26-28 September 2018 to discuss topics like illegal trade of drug precursors, new psychotropic substances and fentanyl as well as good practices on precursor control with experts from police, customs, border forces, prosecutors, judges, regulatory authorities as well as international organizations, the private industry and the scientific world, in order to exchange experiences on new trends and modus operandi related to reducing the illegal trade of precursors. The event also included a study visit to the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines (EDQM) and the presentation of the MEDICRIME Convention.

The RILO WE presented "Statistics on Precursor seizures on a Global Level from the WCO CEN data" pointing out that last year more seizures of precursor chemicals for the production of psychotropic drugs were reported then of precursor chemicals for the "classic" drugs like heroin and cocaine. Even though the total quantity was almost the same, this can be explained by the fact that "classic" drug precursors were more often shipped in large amounts via sea or land freight. While psy drug precursors were circulated in small mail consignments but more frequently. This is following the worldwide trend that more and more illegal psychotropic substances are being produced, trafficked and consumed.

More information https://www.coe.int/en/web/pompidou/activities/precursors